I am half tempted to pick up a 'black-book' to use as a desktop. I am tired of Apple not releasing a headless computer that is not 3 g's...

I think that the MacBook's potential as a desktop "Turbo Mini" is really under-rated. I know it's almost twice the price, but it's got the upgraded graphics card, the 4GB memory capacity and the quicker CPU that everyone hankers after. You've just got to order a display adapter, and you're away...

I plan on getting one and using a display for watching movies, music videos, and using Joost and then use the built in display for web browsing at the same time._________________"You must control your future by taking command of your present, and fixing and learning from your past."

Agreed. Set it as standard equipment across the board, and leave a CTO option to get it with a combo drive for something about $35 less.

I will third that one. It's time for the Combo drive to go the way of the Dodo bird.

Is there a hunting season for combo drives or are they a classified as a varmint?_________________"You must control your future by taking command of your present, and fixing and learning from your past."

I agree. Apple has no more excuses now that the war has been won. That being said, they might be worried about pricing. Slim slot-loading drives in the Blu-ray flavor are still pretty expensive. And every Mac, with the exception of the Mac Pro, uses one. Plus, we all know that Apple build-to-order options don't come cheap.

Well untill apple lowers the price to 599.99 like most laptops then no thank you.

Yep. And when that happens and the quality issues start to arise just out of warranty, you going to be the one complaining about the cheap Apple POS? You get what you pay for. They are priced as they are for a reason. There is more to the pricing than the dollar amount.

But you are correct, there are plenty of notebooks/laptops currently on the market for >$600. If you don't own one, there probably is a very good reason for that.

Yep. And when that happens and the quality issues start to arise just out of warranty, you going to be the one complaining about the cheap Apple POS? You get what you pay for. They are priced as they are for a reason. There is more to the pricing than the dollar amount.

But you are correct, there are plenty of notebooks/laptops currently on the market for >$600. If you don't own one, there probably is a very good reason for that.

Quite true. Apple had made it clear in the past with words and their actions that they have the capability to compete on the ultra low end, but choose not to because they couldn't deliver a product that's up to their standards, and it would detract from the Mac experience.